2025 NFL Draft: Looking for a franchise QB? Time is running out for a unicorn to surface

A year ago, it was how many. Today, it’s do we have any?

The topic of conversation a year ago was the availability of potential franchise quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft. And by mid-November of 2023, there was little doubt that coming wave of talent — including the varied experience among the pool of players — had positioned the league on the doorstep of a bumper crop of players. It was a class that had a perceived generational talent (Caleb Williams), a fast riser (Jayden Daniels), a nitpicked-but-abundantly talented prototype (Drake Maye), a winner with raw upside (J.J. McCarthy) and two deeply experienced starters who were seen as ready-to-start rookies (Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix).

For personnel departments, this was the quarterback feast.

And now, the famine.

That continues to be the general consensus of a dozen personnel sources across the spectrum, from general managers to area scouts, who spoke to Yahoo Sports this week about where the 2025 quarterback class is trending. The bad news? It was a below-average class when the college football season started, and heading into the final few weeks of the regular season, it is mostly trending flat. There have been a few solid surprises, but also disappointments.

The common thread through the class that is deflating: A megawatt star hasn’t emerged. So much so that if the entirety of the 2025 QB class was measured against the 2024 class, the best player in the 2025 class may not have come off the board until after the top six players from the 2024 class.

Asked if even one bona fide star QB had surfaced in the next draft class, an NFC executive said the search is still on.

“Not yet,” he said. “I think more have faded than risen.”

With that in mind, I cobbled together a two-sentence explainer on the current top five QB prospects (which will change somewhat in the coming months) from the opinions of talent evaluators. I then asked the more pertinent question: What’s left to shape this class?

First, the prospects. Two sentences for each that explains the general feeling of a majority of evaluators (allowing that there were disagreements with every player).

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes: Refined and resilient but with some concern that there isn’t a massive amount of growth left in his development to achieve another level of play in the NFL. And there are growing concern about his father, Deion Sanders, setting up as a consistent critic with a megaphone for any staff that drafts him.

Cam Ward, Miami Hurricanes: Creative with the football and has shown (for the most part) that he can limit turnovers while playing against higher-level competition. His decisions can be a roller coaster and he can be downright reckless at times (which he won’t get away with in the NFL as much), which is part of why he was considered a Day 3 pick at best in the 2024 draft.

Quinn Ewers, Texas Longhorns: Solid overall package but has never really achieved a spectacular level, nor shown that he can consistently create. There’s concern over his consistency in dealing with injuries throughout his career.

Carson Beck, Georgia Bulldogs: Has regressed from the improvement shown in 2023, possibly under the weight of early expectations that he could be QB1 in the 2025 draft and potentially the top overall pick. He still has the tools teams like, but some of his decisions and streaky turnovers are a nightmare that suggest he’s far more of a project.

Jalen Milroe, Alabama Crimson Tide: Special as a runner. A long road of work ahead to continue his development as a passer. In some respects he recalls Justin Fields, but with a far, far less refined overall game than when Fields was drafted — effectively putting Milroe in a long-term project tier.

These weren’t the only five players mentioned. Others were mixed in. But this was certainly the central group. I’m not going to get into the specific gripes of evaluators or some of the more colorful thoughts because we have an ocean of evaluation still left ahead. But one thing I will say: The 2025 quarterback class feels remarkably similar to the 2024 running back class, which left NFL teams with an array of split opinions across the group — but also a consensus that it was relatively supbar when it came to the “centerpiece” star department.

So what happens now? Evaluators all tended to agree that the 12-team College Football Playoff could be instrumental in building a consensus around the players. If, for example, Sanders and Colorado were able to fight into the playoff and put on an impressive run when stakes and competition are at the highest levels, that could build significant draft momentum. That’s the case for all five players, who could each end up battling through the postseason.

Think of how much C.J. Stroud’s draft stock was helped when he put up an impressive game in a loss to an NFL-talent-laden Georgia defense in the 2022 CFP semifinals. That raised eyebrows and helped propel Stroud onto a path toward the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft. The 12-team playoff could do the same thing for someone in this group of five. Maybe even projecting them to the top of the draft.

So pull up a seat for the playoff. NFL quarterback evaluators surely will.

And one last thought that cannot be discounted, which came from an NFC general manager when it comes to this upcoming quarterback class:

“Whether you have a high grade on one of them or think they fit what you’re looking for, all it takes is an owner to walk into meetings and say, ‘I think this guy is who we need’,” he said. “That can happen. Or the coaches don’t think the guy is the right pick, but someone else inside the building, or sometimes outside the building, convinces an owner that this is someone who can turn it around.”

“Just don’t discount that good work can guide a good decision and an owner can go against it. A homeless guy told [Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam] to draft [Johnny] Manziel. How’s that for a variable?”

It’s certainly food for thought. Especially in a draft that may very well have a quarterback-needy Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis sitting at the top of it.